FOOTBALL: PSU wins, but O'Brien's future the story

Indiana wide receiver Kofi Hughes (13) is hit by Penn State safety Ryan Keiser (23) after catching a pass during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game in State College, Pa., Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012. Penn State won 45-22. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE — It was just a game between two teams with no postseason plans in what qualified as the most sparse Beaver Stadium crowd in nearly 20 years.

This was Indiana against NCAA-sanctioned Penn State a week before Thanksgiving.

And yet how do you measure the haywire nature of everything that transpired here, the storylines unraveling one after another?

The scoreboard looked appropriate enough when it was over and the Nittany Lions were singing the alma mater after the 45-22 victory over the fast-paced and improving but still ill-equipped Indiana Hoosiers.

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But everything else ran the scale of emotions from shock to celebration, from sadness to satisfaction.

From emotional leader Mike Mauti’s significant knee injury to botched plays on both sides of the ball to record-setting performances to even new coach Bill O’Brien’s stern refusal to confirm that he will remain at Penn State.

All of that from the Indiana game in mid-November?

Then again, nothing has felt settled here in the past year, certainly not Saturday’s display in front of an announced gathering of 90,358 that was truly far less.

It wasn’t long after Mauti was carted away to the locker room in the middle of the opening quarter that the Lions actually found themselves trailing the 18-point underdog Hoosiers in their rarely quiet home surroundings.

The next couple of hours would flow back and forth, featuring the inspired play of fellow linebacker Gerald Hodges to the highlight receiving performance of Allen Robinson.

And yet also more Zach Zwinak fumble problems and shoddy tackling from the defense to a strange refusal from O’Brien to answer “yes” or “no” as to whether he would consider leaving for an NFL head coaching job after the season.

Through it all, the player who seemed to connect all of the dots was Matt McGloin.

He is the senior leader like Mauti who helped pull the Lions together in the midst of turmoil last summer.

He was the only one who truly spoke out at what he though were botched officiating calls last week at Nebraska, at a season-long frustration, even.

“No, I don’t think I regret anything I ever say,” was his response Saturday, a week later.

Always, McGloin has been a lightning rod of sorts over the past three years.

From his dramatic first-appearance save at Minnesota in 2010 to his five-interception performance a couple of months later. From being forced to share the position last season to his locker room fight that cost him a bowl game.

He has absorbed his share of criticism, even through this season. However, he came into this weekend as the Big Ten’s leading passer and came up just four yards short of a school record with his 395 passing yards against Indiana.

“It’s just the way I am. I’m an outspoken guy, a very emotional guy,” he said. “I love to win, hate to lose. I say what I feel and everybody knows it.

And for that, he is unlike most Penn State players before him and even those under this new regime.

He even is unlike anyone in his own family, from his two older brothers to his father.

“I’m outspoken, I get hot at times. They’re more relaxed,” he said. “It’s probably because I played with older guys my whole life. I had to fight and kick and scream.”

Maybe more than anyone, even Mauti, it is McGloin who symbolizes the upheaval and yet the sweeps of refreshing air blowing through the program after so much negativity for nine-straight months.

O’Brien came to Penn State with an expertise in offense and quarterback play. McGloin was the undersized thrower with a penchant for forcing passes in the constant hopes of big returns.

They seemed an interesting though possibly combustible match. Both strong-willed, Irish-bred leaders with equal sizes of hard work and hot temper.

And yet they have found success together, no more evident than Saturday.

“In my opinion, you have to have a brain that can work fast, you have to be competitive, you have to have a huge desire to win, and he has that,” O’Brien said.

But a functional quarterback to lead his complicated offense?

O’Brien said he knew that after one simple moment last spring, when he asked McGloin to design a certain play:

“He drew it up in about three seconds, knew the reads, knew what everybody did, drew the coverage, drew the protections, knew where (the ball) was supposed to go.

“I just knew at that point we had a kid who was working out to be the starting quarterback.”

That all led, months later, to this particular day in Beaver Stadium, the second-to-last of his Penn State career.

On the Indiana side of the field was a quarterback running a breathless offensive plan, trying to squeeze in as many plays as possible, desperately trying to ignite some kind of comeback spark in a stunning 59 pass attempts.

In contrast, it was McGloin who seemed to block out the emotion of losing his teammate, of his own career coming to an end. He was impressively efficient, earning all those yards and four touchdowns in only 22 completions in 32 attempts.

It was the fiery, former walk-on who speaks his mind loudly, that guy calmly completing a fourth-down touchdown pass early and a critical fourth-down later on.